Golden Trio
by Marionetteinthebox
Summary: Err [ ər, er ] (v.): be mistaken or incorrect; make a mistake Fifty years can change a lot. A bear can lose his spine. A rabbit can lose his mind. A whole group of people can suffer because of the smallest err. These are fifty golden years as seen through the eyes of a puppet who got burned trying to lose his strings. Currently on hiatus.
1. Stage 01

Green.

If one attempted to describe the attraction, they would use that word. There were barely any working lights at all, but the ones that escaped destruction were overrun with mold and dust, generating the sickly color splattered on the walls. The eerie feeling that oozed out of the walls had come from this place being converted into a 'horror attraction' – something to temporarily steal the attention of the masses who wandered into the old amusement park. Even so, those who knew what the place had been before – a children's pizza parlor in the eighties – were conflicted on whether this was a good idea or not.

They public assumed they knew the entire story – a man kills five kids, hides their bodies in the animatronic suits, is arrested with a life sentence. There had even been a rumor circling around that the kids' souls still haunted the metal contraptions, causing this mess of a horror attraction to spring up. Some were angry that a profit was trying to be made off the tragedy of dead children, but their voices were soon drowned out by the buzz of the attraction opening in a week. It was lined up to the brim with relics of the previous pizzeria - drawings, animatronic costumes, props, etc. They had even found the company's first location to use. The lore still had left its stains on the place, with only a few having survived through it, including the murderer himself, the children, a nervous man on a phone, and three of the animatronics – a golden bear, a rabbit of the same color, and a puppet who had tried to prevent it all.

{***)

Virtually every folk tale and spooky story had missed some facts, gotten some information wrong, or even missed the point entirely. The story of Fazbear entertainment was no different. The murderer's first victim, a nine-year-old girl, preceded the 'five missing children'. Her death, so often skimmed over by the theorists who claim to know so much, might have been treated so because of its difference from the others. She was killed a block away from the pizzeria, preventing her body from being stuffed into a suit. Most never were able to learn her story.

The same girl's spirit tightly wrapped her cold fingers around the seemingly lifeless body of a marionette, holding on for dear life. A man in a purple polo had the fabric creature slung over his right shoulder, with its plastic mask continually bouncing against his back with each step. The man seemed exhausted, his face drooping after hours of what he considered a fruitless quest. He had even gotten his hopes up when he found this, but it seemed like there was no way to get it to move on its own as part of the attraction.

At least this one was complete, unlike the others he had found earlier. They were a wreck, the bodies chopped up into pieces, the faces almost unrecognizable. The parts were scattered across the floor as if a maniac decided to tear them apart for fun. There were not many options for things to do with these, so he did what he does best: improvising. It might not have been his best decision, but the man decided to drape the plastic heads over a light bulb until he figured out what to do with them. Sure, it was a dangerous fire hazard and probably illegal, but he would get that sorted out when he was not busy toting around a human sized puppet.

As the Marionette got heavier and heavier, a thought flashed across his mind. What if the spirits of the children were still here, trapped inside the suits that now served as their coffins? It left as soon as it came, being replaced by the theory that he was just tired from looking all day. The spirit holding on barely had enough strength for the rest of the journey. She was tired too, but she did not have enough power to inhabit the sleeping animatronic, leaving her with the options of waiting 'til he woke up or letting go and risking losing him. The first option definitely seemed better to her.

"Here ya go, dude. I'll be back tomorrow, so sit tight." The man dropped the animatronic in a corner, next to a Chica lamp whose light had been flickering. The man turned around, eyes gazing around to make sure no one was watching. Working at a horror attraction makes you a bit paranoid, seeing shadows at the corner of your eye or hearing a laugh of a murderer. Little did he know there was one was lying down right behind him.

The girl sat up after she heard the footsteps disappear. Turning her head to the side, she reached her arm out towards the marionette and gently patted his arm. The bright, cheerful colors on his mask had all but faded away, seeming like dull splotches on the now off-white mask. All three of his buttons were gone and she was sure there was a tear in his side. She could only hope that the journey here had not destroyed his already fragile system. After a minute of silence, she stood up and tugged on the mask, thinking that a bit more force would work. The wires slowly started to resurrect themselves while his internal systems preformed a maintenance check. A few more minutes passed as the Marionette slowly regained consciousness. Soon, his pupils came to life, with his left flickering every so often with sparks. She wanted to watch him more, but she also knew that he would not be able to move without her help.

"What – When – Where are we?" The words seemed quiet, his voice box not up to full power yet, but she could still hear him perfectly fine. The girl did not answer, instead deciding to merge her soul with the puppet. The merging would give the Marionette the ability to float and control over his limbs. This was very useful to him, as he had not had his strings to use in a long time. A soft blue glow glimmered around him as he picked himself off the ground and attempted to walk. It was a little rough at first, with his torso refusing to turn in the direction he needed it to, but he soon got the hang of it being able to glide with ease. Granted, he used to be able to do this with her with ease, but 30 years without practice does allow some room for improvement.

Gliding forward, the Marionette was stopped by flashing red text across his screen.

 **POWER: 25%**

 **RECHARGE RECOMMENDED**

The warning flashed across the screen, preventing him from seeing where he was going. He tried to aim for a straight line, but that only caused him to turn into a wall, knocking him to the floor. The red warning shrunk and shifted over to the top right of his screen where he noticed that the impact had dropped his power level down to 23%. Other information soon popped up along the edges including the date. Monday, December 25th, 2023. No, that could not have been right. If that was true, then he had been in sleep mode for 30 years... No. He refused to believe it. Light footsteps cut through the otherwise silent hallway and popped the Marionette's thought bubble. Hiding behind a spare Freddy Fazbear suit on a pole, he watched the man as he sat down.

He appeared to be around fifty years old and was wearing an old purple polo that was almost identical to the one the man before was wearing, save for the golden nametag. The Marionette tried to make out the wording, but the sharpie writing had been smudged, leaving only a '-e' visible.

"Lemme see!" The girl had poked her head out of the puppet's chest trying to catch some details about the older man. Truth be told, there was not much to see except his short black hair and soft blue eyes. The night guard had not heard the ghost, only focusing on a call that was blaring through his mobile phone. "...So, in trying to make the place feel vintage we may have overdone it a bit, hehe... Some of this equipment is barely functional. Yeah, I wasn't joking about the fire. Tha-tha-that's a real risk." The man groaned and rubbed his eyes, failing to see the reasoning behind the fire risk. 'Wasn't that the man from earlier?' The Marionette thought, trying to connect the unclear voice to the tall man who had dragged them from miles away to this place. It was hard, seeing as though he was mostly inactive at that point. The girl just stared past the spare Freddy head, soon remembering who was sitting down in that chair.

{***}

A two-room diner staffed exactly 3 cooks, 2 security, and 1 moving animatronic – all of them fluttering around trying to get the tables set, the pizza cooked and just making sure it was perfect when their doors opened to the masses in an hour. They all were wearing their purple polo's with a golden bear head as a badge, save for the three animatronics. Two golden ones, a bear and a rabbit, were up on stage. The unstable leg mechanics proved unable to walk, keeping them planted firmly on the stage. The third escaped this limit by being strung up on strings that ran up to a mechanism in the wall.

This 'Marionette' moved frantically, adding plates and chairs to tables, checking the kitchen every so often to make sure the cook didn't set it on fire, and checking the time – 8:23 AM on August 8th, 1973 to be exact. Everything seemed to be in working order, yet he still felt the nagging sensation that something was off. Something – or someone – was going to destroy all of this. He just did not know whom yet. The Marionette was stepping away to go on another routine kitchen check when a golden hand wrapped around his felt shoulder and turned him around.

"Hey." The bear's voice box came loud and clear against the bristled silicone fur it was hidden behind.

"Hey." The Marionette shifted his torso to the bear in front of him. There were not many similar features between them except the gold color in his buttons matching the other's fur and the small white pupils the three shared.

"Don't worry. It'll be fine, just calm down." The bear smiled and removed his hand.

"Yeah, it'll be fine!" The rabbit next to them cheered. He was not looking up but was fiddling with the strings on his bright red acoustic guitar. The sounds echoing from the base seemed just a half pitch too high or too low. The Marionette nodded and let out a mechanical breath.

"Thank you, I'll keep that in mind." Walking away, he slowed his pace, keeping the golden two always in the corner of his eye.

The time had passed quickly, leaving a mere three minutes 'till opening. The diner was in top shape – the pizzas were laid out on the kitchen counter, tables were polished and pristine. This should have made the Marionette feel better, but the nagging feeling still pulled on his strings. He changed his gaze every few seconds to try to rip out the source. Everyone was standing as still as statues and were hopefully gazing upon the curious crowd that waited outside.

Finally, he spotted a protruding detail – the second security guard. He had his purple cap tipped down, but even then, the Marionette could see the glowing white irises staring right at him. The man had what seemed to be an eternal grin spread across his face, as if he was gleefully sucking the life out of the felt creature. This must have been causing the paranoia he had been feeling all day, preventing him from what should have been his happiest day. Interrupting his line of sight was a wall of children galloping into the small diner, soon followed by their parents who had fallen behind.

It was opening time.

He tried turning his gaze back to the purple clad security guard but he had vanished, replaced by a blond woman on her cell phone and a vague sense of fear lingering in the air. Fredbear's voice rang against the walls proclaiming, "Hey kid's, it's me: Fredbear, ready to welcome you to Fredbear's Family Diner! Bonnie's here to play some tunes with me and the Marionette's right there to serve some pizza and -" The bear had continued rambling on but he had turned him out, seeking the man who would soon cause the downfall of this place.

.


	2. Take Cake to the Children

The sun's bright yellow light had intruded into the horror attraction, marking six and a half hours since the puppet had been dragged down to its depths. The visiting night guard had almost seen them, but the Marionette left as quickly as possible to avoid scaring him off. Silence filled the green stained halls as he exited, leaving only the white noise of whirring machines and sparking wires.

It took a while before any sort of conversation sparked, seeing as the two were in deep thought.

"So, what now?" The spirit tensed up, rubbing her forearm. The memories of their time in that dank safe room for thirty years were swimming up to the surface now that she was unoccupied. She had hoped back then that they would come up with a plan to escape it. They did technically escape – the better term being dragged out forcefully – but it had come with a price: they now had no chance of reaching Fredbear and Bonnie. She was eighty-seven percent sure that they were still locked up in separate safe rooms, but for all she knew they could have rotten away or been torn up or even destroyed by now.

After viewing all that her host had gone though, though, she could not feel too bad for herself. The Marionette himself had been searching over fifty years for them, and who could blame him – they seemed to be the closest things he had. Even though she had seen firsthand how smart he was when in situations like that, she had to admit that she was surprised how lucky he was. With a purple clad murderer lurking around, five vengeful spirits of children trying to tear apart every night guard they see, and animatronics getting scrapped with the first hint of a glitch in their code, it was a miracle how he survived these past fifty years with only a few scratches.

The answer he gave almost caused the girl to tumble out of his body in shock.

"I-I don't know." He lowered his head and started to fiddle with the area where his golden buttons used to be.

"What?" She had no eyes, only black holes in their place, but the Marionette could still tell that she was looking up right at him "You always know what to do. I mean, just yesterday you kept up from getting caught like three times. Come on, there has to be something."

He wrapped his long fingers together in a ball, trying to pull out some resemblance of an idea. "Remember when the man had carried us over here last night?" The spirit nodded her head. How could she forget? "I remember – he mentioned something about 'something he could use', right? Since he brought us over, he might have been referring to a working machine, like one of the old ones." His eyes crossed paths with a Foxy lamp. Just looking at what happened to these things put him off edge. "If that's the case, then what is he trying to do with them?"

"Another restaurant?" The girl leaned forward out of his body and twisted her neck to get a good look at his face. She had heard his ramblings throughout the journey over, but he had not said much in relation to what the actual place would turn out to be. The Marionette shifted his head from side to side, contemplating the idea.

"Maybe. I-I guess we will just have to wait and see what comes of it."

{***}

 _August 22nd, 1973. It had been a full two weeks since the grand opening and the Marionette couldn't have been more tense. Everywhere he seemed to go, every time he tried to think of something else, those dead white eyes would stare at him, his throat releasing a sickening demonic laugh that shouldn't have been possible for a human. No one else seemed to notice. Not Bonnie, not the children, not Fredbear. No one. It was like the purple clad monstrosity didn't exist. He did though. The Marionette knew he did, and he wasn't crazy for it. He wasn't._

 _Two weeks of nonstop paranoia had sucked any enjoyment he could get from entertaining children and mutated it into a heavy led ball, dragging him down slowly into madness. He tried to focus, he really did. Each child that came up to him recieved a plastered smile and the best playtime he could give (though at this point, it wasn't much). That didn't seem to be enough for the kids who had decided to come to the half crazed puppet less and to the much jollier golden animals more. He couldn't say he was surprised. He wouldn't want to be around himself either at this point._

 _Taking his afternoon rounds of giving out presents, he couldn't help but glance over to the front window every now and then. A girl of around nine years old was staring longingly into the diner. Tears slowly fell down her cheeks then took a plunge straight down to her purple dress below. The rain hadn't been too hard on her, only releasing a few drops on her. Her almost golden hair was frazzled as if it hadn't been combed in weeks. The puppet couldn't say he wasn't too emotionally invested. He would've gone and opened the doors for the poor girl but company policy prevented it. 'No unpaying customers allowed in' it said. With a sigh, he resigned himself to checking up on her every now and then._

 _A laugh pressed up against the outside glass, just barely making it over to the black and white animatronic._

 _It was his laugh._

 _The Marionette quickly turned around and zoomed over. The purple clad menace was standing right behing the crying child with that wide grin plastered on his face and white eyes glaring directly at the girl. A revolver was positioned directly behind her head, cocked and ready to fire. The Marionette knew what was about to happen and raced to the window in a futile attempt to stop it. "No! He screamed. His fists pounded on the windows, desperate to alert the girl of her imminent doom._

 _Bang!_

 _The shot was quiet, the sound being muffled by the soft layer of skin that pressed against the tip of the gun. The girl's face was blank, tears still streaming down her face as she slid to the ground that was as cold and lifeless as she was._

 _The puppet shrieked and jumped back falling to the floor. "She's dead! She's dead!" He cried, crawling over to the first security guard. The man's face drained of its color as he rushed over to the window. He stood ther for a moment, gaping at what the Marionette could only presume to be the child's carcass, before turning around with a sigh._

 _"It's nothing." Bewildered, the puppet rushed over and looked out the window again. Sure enough, the was no body, no security guard, just a sidewalk and a street. The glaring sun proved that it hadn't even been raining._

 _"No, it can't be - I swear she was just -" He looked over to his golden freinds for support but their faces didn't help much, a mixture of confusion and disappointment. The parents and children had backed away, creating a large rift between him and the rest of the crowd. Without a word, he dissapeared into the kitchen and stayed there for the rest of the day._

{***}

Two golden suits, a bear and a rabbit, lay practically dead on the tiled floor where the Marionette sat just seven hours before. The halls seemed to darken at their mere presence, each coated with several thick bloodstains splattered across the fronts of their withered torsos. The golden coloration of the fur had long since faded to a sickening yellow-green, matching the hue of the attraction. Hollowed black holes where the eyes should have been popped out against the semi-colorful fur. Their suits were both extremely withered, large gaping holes in the fabric revealing the corroded metal mechanisms inside. There they sat, the bodies prohibiting them from making any sort of controlled movement. After a little less than an hour of forced solitude on the ground, a purple flash wrapped around the rabbit before seeping in, planning a reboot for the mechanisms inside.

A few minutes passed with no change, only the whirring of metal parts and the occasional sparks erupting from the mossy light bulbs. Suddenly, a pair of white dots sprung up in the rabbit's eye sockets, piercing its pitch-black surroundings. Slight jerks shifted the cadaver around until its ancient mechanics gave it the gift of standing up. The white lights zapped around their circular encasing, taking in information of the area around them, save for the golden bear off to the side. He had no idea where he was, or why he had awoken at that specific moment, but he had figured that would be revealed to him eventually. The object of interest for him now was the thing slithering around in his head. He could just barely feel it, but the minuscule itching proved that there was in fact something. It was oozing around like a snake, deleting and replacing memories, one at a time, though there was no way for the rabbit to know that. Heck, he had not even known his real name until the thing gave it to him.

One hall down, the Marionette was on edge, again. The clanking of metallic footsteps repeatedly echoed against the walls, and every now and then he swore that a flash of purple (or was it gold?) slipped by the corridor. Even though it had become a common occurrence by now, he still could not pinpoint who, or what, it was, with the footsteps quickly fading into silence and the sparks of color melting back into the mossy green of the attraction.

What felt like hours later, the floating puppet caught another glimpse of the color flash, this time shining for far too long just to be a hallucination. Turning around, he headed straight for where he could trap the thing in a dead end. As he came closer, the gold he swore he saw was slowly being out-shined by a deep purple. A toxic mix of dread, excitement, and plain fear took control of his body almost forcing him back to his spot. His curiosity got the better of him though, and pushed the fabric body towards this new source of light. Who was this? The Marionette asked himself. If it was not the guard from last night or the man on the phone, then could it be... **Him**?

He inwardly scowled at the thought. Why would he come back? He should have never come back. He had already done his dirty work and ruined so many lives hadn't he? So why would he be back?

No. He wasn't here. It had to be something else. This thought propelled the puppet forward, charging with a tiny glint of dread in his eye. When the subject in question entered his line of sight, he stopped and gazed, the simple answer hanging over him like a loaded gun over a child's head.

"B-Bonnie?"

{***}

 _Two months later led to their last day. The diner was set to close down at the end of the night. 'Lack in customer interest' was the official reason that was written down on all of the forms but everyone there knew the real one. The Marionette's little outburst had scared them all away. Naturally, a few kids came every now and then, but the visits were few and far between and no one dared to venture anywhere near the 'glicht ed' puppet. The clocked chimed 8:00, an hour 'till closing time._

 _The two golden animatronics on stage were playing with their instruments for the last time, strumming and singing a tune he didn't recognize. The staff were busying themselves with removing tablecloths and polishing up the room, refusing to make eye contact with the puppet. He didn't know exactly what to do. The staff didn't want any help and his friends would ignore any type of conversation he tried to start. Currently fiddling with his bottom golden button, a blue glow in the corner soon caught his eye._

 _The girl from before was huddled into a fetal position. Her entire body was now colored in various shades of blue, including the once purple dress she had been wearing. She was still crying like before, but it was much quieter. He was barely able to hear it from his position. Checking his internal systems, he made sure that he wasn't just imagining it before hovering over._

 _"Hey, don't cry. It'll be fine, Uh, here." Quickly grabbing a slice of unfinished cake from a nearby table, he set it down in front of the girl. Immediately, she stopped crying and looked up. Smiling, she thanked the Marionette before wrapping her arms around him._

 _Unheeded by both of them, she had gained two purple lines running down her face._

{***}

'The golden-green rabbit tilted his head to the side and studied the being in front of him. Truth be told, he was not expecting any sort of company aside from the night guard the purple thing in his head would not shut up about. He didn't mind it, the thing had been helping him out after all, but it couldn't go three minutes without blabbering on about 'evil night guard' this and 'in our way' that. With all its speeches, he could not help but assume there was no one else. It is a logical assumption when you are trapped in an abandoned building. However, this... thing (puppet?) was much different from anything else he had remembered. His body was a sleek black with exactly nine white rings around each appendage. A long neck the same color connected to a creepy faded mask, though it seemed to be sagging down his face just a bit. Being so wrapped up in all of this, he had barely noticed the other's attempts to speak with him.

"Bonnie? Is that you?" The white irises inside held a bit of hope and desperation.

"Who- My name is Springtrap." The rabbit stated. If the mask was not enough of an alarm, the puppet-thing seemed to be crazy as well, or that is what the purple thing told him, at least.

"Springtrap? No, Bonnie, you don't understand. It's me! The Marionette! Don't you remember me?" His tone dropped at that last half, as if he were kicked in the stomach multiple times.

With all this new information, the purple thing was starting to lose its control, each memory it was trying to delete resurfacing and giving the rabbit more freedom over his body. They had to regain control, and fast. "Who's Bonnie? I already told you my name, now let me through!" His anger levels were rising at whatever this thing was trying to tell him, even if it was clearing up some missing gaps. His only escape was through the corridor in front of him and the other did not seem eager to let him loose.

"Please just listen to me. If you just stay here a little longer, I'm sure-" Silence bursted through the air again, replacing whatever thought and phases had been present before. A Freddy lamp was shining into Springtrap's mouth, revealing a large human skull gleaming against the yellow-green color of the animatronic.

"What is… that?" The Marionette asked, fear creeping into his voice. If the eternal smile hadn't been plastered onto his mask, it would be gaping in horror. Surely, the bone couldn't belong to a child, right? "Let me help you – stay still!" He reached his long spindly fingers towards the springtrapped figure in front of him.

As soon as his sensors processed the incoming felt, a flame burned in the animatronic's mind causing his self-defense mechanism to spring into action. His large golden hand grabbed the other's as the jerked it, throwing the limp body to the floor.

"Don't touch me!" The clang of fabric, metal, and plastic resounded off the tiles as the rabbit stared at the mess. Without a second thought, he hurried off in order to remove himself from any further related thoughts.

The Marionette groaned in pain, reaching out a hand to his spirit who had fallen out in the collision with the floor. She gladly accepted and phased back into his body just in time to allow him to hear incoming footsteps and see the purple outline of a leg and a shoe. Right then, everything clicked. The identity of the skull that was wedged into Bonnie's mouth. The reason why he was so mean to him just then. The reason why he didn't seem to remember anything the Marionette told him.

It was all because of Jeremy Fitzgerald, the Purple Guy.

"Hello, **Puppet**."


End file.
